I think he just did it for fun. I know he didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s feelings. Nobody is that stupid… In my house, we call [each other] that word every 20 seconds. I’ve got three kids—for us, it’s like ‘What’s up, bro? What’s up, dude?’ It’s how you say it and to who you say it. But that’s our country. We have to respect this country. Sometimes for us it’s funny, for other people it’s not.”

Miami Marlins managerOzzie Guillen, defending Toronto Bluejays shortstop Yunel Escobar’s writing “tu ere maricon” (“you are a faggot”) on his eye block, in the Miami Herald.Gullen, who is Venezuelan, was reprimanded by the league in 2006 for calling Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti “a fucking fag.

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8 Comments

the other Greg

Yeah right, that sounds like “fun,” especially if one of the kids is actually gay.

When Ozzie’s kids do some supposedly menial chore like take out the trash, does he say “You’re a sp*c” just to joke around with with them?

September 20, 2012 at 11:09am

zaneymcbanes

In a situation where you have a bunch of straight guys who know each other well enough, I think if they call each other “faggot” in the privacy of wherever they’re hanging out (and I do mean privacy, I don’t want to hear that word in public), that’s fine, they all understand that there’s no hate behind it (hypothetically speaking, of course. the other Greg has a very valid point that these supposedly “fun” exchanges often require the silence of closeted LGBTs in the room).

However, the word “faggot” or “maricón” (Acento, Sr. Escobar! Acento!) has a history of hate attached to it when placed in the broader cultural context. I don’t really care what any of these guys do in private. Ideally, they wouldn’t be machismo bigots, but that’s their prerogative, not mine. But when I hear that word, there’s a part of me that panics because of the very real associations with it, and Mr. Escobar has no right to force those feelings on me.

September 20, 2012 at 12:09pm

dvlaries

Never miss a good opportunity to shut up, Ozzie. And when your colleague was handed a three day suspension, that was the opportunity.

September 20, 2012 at 1:09pm

ChiChi Man

Kind of like saying, “I beat my wife, but it’s different in my country.”

Just chase the ball and shut the f*ck up!

September 20, 2012 at 2:09pm

mlbumiller

Wow, maybe the league can save some more money and suspend him for three days.

@the other Greg:
I dont think he would understand that, he didnt grow up here. Maybe something about him being Catholic would put it in persepctive.

September 20, 2012 at 3:09pm

TomMc

Here I thought Guillen was too old, and too male, for Escobar’s mom to have had sex with…